ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND ISLAM
Allah's address in the Qur'an is addressed to all people, and it is not possible to meet any affiliations such as Muslim, Christian, Sunni, Alevi, Orthodox, Evangelical etc. on your part. The first distinction with Allah will be between the believer and the unbeliever and these groups will be held accountable to each other through differentiation. As an individual, everyone is responsible for what they have or did not act. Religious affiliation will not be relevant here, because the "religion" of Allah is Islam.
“With Allah is Din Islam
and polemicizing the book owners
is among each other,
after knowledge has been given to them,
because of their lust for power.
And whoever denies Allah's Ayads should know
Allah is a quick calculator. "
Al-'Imran, 19:
"Anyone who wants a DIN other than Islam
should not be accepted by him and
in the hereafter he will be one of the losers "
al-'Imran, 85
Anyone who knows these two Ayads and also al-mā'ida, Ayad number 3, sits arrogantly on the high horse. In this Ayad, after listing his do's and don'ts, Allah says the following:
“… I finished your religion today
and finished my blessing on you.
And I consent for you
Islam as a religion ... "
People who value their Islam very highly in their own way should apply the advice Allah revealed in the Qur'an at least as much as that they feel Muslim.
Every Muslim who prays five times a day, fasts for one month a year and pays zakat - even if it is only a little - does not keep the value of his being a Muslim below 50 percent. There are Muslims who classify themselves as 60 or even 70 percent. It is unacceptable not to know or apply the recommendations of the Qur'an while valuing one's piety so highly.
Given that even atheists, or those who do not call themselves "Muslim", remain insensitive to negative events around them, the insensitivity of the Muslim community to the environment is collaborative.
We find it useful to remind Muslims who are insensitive to environmental protection, as in all other matters, of what Allah has revealed in the Qur'an.
According to the teaching of the Qur'an, a Muslim is one who surrenders himself to Allah and places himself under the protection of Allah. And therefore everything that is not in order is eliminated or improved. This devotion shouldn't be left as lip service. It must come much more from inner conviction and the recommendations of Islam must be taken seriously. The word Muslim comes from the Arabic root “SLM” and means that one must be freed from fear, suspicion, calamity, unrest, unhappiness and war. A Muslim must avoid everything that is negative for himself, for his fellow men and for his environment.
Since the Qur'ān is a collection of knowledge (Ṣād, 69 الملا الاعلى) of lifestyle, advice and prohibitions for "people" who are social creatures, we must accept the religion of Allah as pure religion / social order. So Islam is a way of life, a social phenomenon; "Democracy", which we practice with pride, is also a "religion / social order". We therefore find it useful to go into the details of what we will be held responsible for on Judgment Day, including for the environment:
ar-rahman 7-9:
And he created the sky
picked him up and set up the scales / measure / balance so
that you would not be overrun in standards / measures / balance.
Keep the measure upright / equal,
does not damage the scale / measure / scale.
The same measure and precision that was used in the creation of the universe was also used in the creation of the earth, and none of this was caused by chaos. It is emphasized in surah ar-rahman that this exact measure should be maintained.
Ṭā Hā 53:
He is the one who made the earth a bed for you,
from there ways opened for you and
Sent down water from heaven.
az-zuḫruf 10:
Allah has made the earth your cradle.
He also made some ways
so that you can follow the right path,
to which you were led.
an-naba '6-7:
Do we not have the earth to be a cradle and
made the mountains into a pillar?
There is a “cradle” analogy in verses 6 and 7 of Surah an-naba '. The cot is a protected bed for our babies, our most valuable asset. It is important that Allah make this analogy here, and it should be well thought out. Who knows that his baby sleeps in it, will not burn this cradle with fire, will not leave his child where predators are and try to protect it from rain, cold and all sorts of bad weather conditions. One does not overheat the environment in which the child of the heart rests and one does not undercool this area of life either. Our earth, our solar system is placed in a protected corner of the Milky Way in such a way that a life like the one we lead was possible at all. This excellent calculation, this fine placement was certainly not in vain.
Allah gave Adam and his wife a paradise.
al-a'rāf 19:
"O Adam! You and your wife live in heaven, eat wherever you want and do not come near this tree, otherwise you will be one of the evildoers". 19 Then Satan, he gave them deception in order to get their hidden ugliness To this end, he swore: "Your Lord, not for any other reason, He has forbidden you to use this tree, just so that the two of you will not become an angel or you will be forever, permanently." Giving advice "21 So he deceived them and drove them down. As they tasted the fruit of the tree, their ugliness appeared to them. 22 Their Lord called out to them," Didn't I forbid you this tree and told you that "This devil is definitely the obvious enemy for you "?
Adam and his wife are allowed to eat and drink. However, they are prohibited from approaching a phenomenon. To regard this peculiarity, which is described in the Torah and the Qur'an as a “tree”, only as a fruit-bearing tree, would mean reducing it to the simplest level. From this we will come to understand that we must be careful about any matter that we do not understand and where we do not have enough knowledge and experience. The "Adams" mentioned here are a species of Homo sapiens sapiens who developed "emotional brains" through reptilian brains. The "mind" blown into him means that the "upper shell / cortex" of his brain began to function.
"This layer of the brain develops last and is responsible for much higher cognitive functions such as perception, consciousness, voluntary movement control, mental and physical strategy development, perception and implementation of social rules" Prof. Dr. Sinan Canan- my brain / I change- page 134- tutikitap- Istanbul 2015
The "Iblis / Satan", who also has to intervene in this layer and was created for this function, must be taken into account. The functional principle of this cerebral cortex, which does not occur in other mammals, must be very well understood. Otherwise we follow this Iblis, whom we understand as a being who constantly leads us to mistakes and forces us to sin, and we tend to hold him responsible for what we do of free will. The Iblis mentioned in the Qur'an is our thinking ability. In other words, it's the top shell of our brain. Comments made without a thorough understanding of the concepts of Qur'an / Religion / Iblis / Satan are incomplete or even wrong.
al-aḥzāb 72:
Without doubt!
We have trust / integrity / perfection
spreads over the sky, the earth and the mountains,
but they didn't want to wear / hide / obscure / discredit it.
They feared integrity / perfection
would be made unrecognizable.
And man has worn / hidden / made unrecognizable / discredited / betrayed it.
Undoubtedly, man is very ignorant and
behaves badly / works to his own disadvantage.
In verse 72 of sura al-aḥzāb 72, after it became clear that nature cannot and will not disturb this balance by itself, it is declared that man takes responsibility, and in the last sentence Adam's ignorance and doing of things become too stressing his own harm. The word used here is "ظلوماً / zaluman". az-zulm / الظلم is used in Old Arabic in the sense that a wolf is made into a shepherd for a flock of sheep. So self-harming. It is clear that the decisions and practices we make hastily without thinking or weighing up give negative feedback on the environment as well as on all other issues. This is emphasized in sura ar-rūm, verse 41:
“If people turn away from their mistakes;
because of what their hands earned
if there was an uproar on land and water,
to let them taste what they had done. "
The fact that we have to face the consequences of what we do with our own hands / self-negligence is mentioned many times in the Qur'an. While we are held accountable in the hereafter; it is naive to believe that we are faced with such questions as:
- Have you prayed?
- did you fast?
- Did you make the pilgrimage?
be confronted. Rather, we will be asked about social aspects that have been implemented or not implemented.
The first command of Allah in the Qur'an was “Iqra / learn / teach” not like “Read the Qur'an!” It was a devastating mistake to understand only “recite the Qur'an”. The Muslims learn the Qur'an by heart, recite it again and feel "pious / spiritual". The Qur'an must be understood and applied, otherwise the commandments and prohibitions revealed therein will not make sense.
The noun “Salatun /.” Is the best example of the fact that Islam needs to be reinterpreted. Allah's Islam is dynamic / active; our Islam is passive / phlegmatic. Iqra / learn / teach was exchanged for “Basmala”; Salatun / social engagement was exchanged for “praying”. At this point I do not want to go into the serious side effects of such exchange and falsification actions. I will be satisfied with the fact that verse 56 of Surah al-aḥzāb should be translated to replace the noun “الصلوة salatun” with “pray”. Then we would have this translation:
"Allah and his angels prayed to the Nebi / Prophet with devotion, oh you believers also pray with devotion to him"
Because throughout the Qur'an this noun is written as follows: الصلوة. To be correct, however, it should be written الصلاة. The spelling in the Qur'an should indicate something that we must be aware of. There is therefore no need to translate “pray” one time and “salam and salamet” another time.
As we have already mentioned, Allah will question people as individual individuals. Since the main legal articles in question will be the Qur'an, this book should be taken seriously and should not be ignored in practice.
al-baqara 22:
O people!
Worship your Lord
who created you and your ancestors,
who made the earth a bed for you and
made the sky into a building and
Water sent down from heaven, and with it fruits
produced as food,
so that you may come under the tutelage of Allah,
do not associate Allah with partner knowingly.
These verses explain that the world was prepared and put at his service for men. It also points out the importance of not being under the orders of any authority other than Allah. This passage is a little difficult to understand, but not impossible. Since Allah wishes to be the only authority, it is the duty of his servants to know, learn and apply his principles. Because in the 14th verse of Surah al-muddaṯṯir Allah turns to the Prophet Muhammad (sa) and says:
"Let the person I am so many options
as possible, with me alone. "
Although Islamic scholars would say that the address here is "Abu Lahab", this is a sentence that concerns us all. I don't know if this applies to all people. But we can already imagine that the presidents of the countries that pollute the world the most will certainly be confronted with it.
September 2021
Arif Dilşen
Hakkı Yılmaz
